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Troops Discover Lush Saddam Hideaway
AP | 4/12/03 | CHRIS TOMLINSON

Posted on 04/12/2003 11:55:33 AM PDT by kattracks

Troops Discover Lush Saddam Hideaway

By CHRIS TOMLINSON .c The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The doors of the town house opened to reveal a playboy's fantasy straight from the 1960s: mirrored bedroom, lamps shaped like women, air-brushed paintings of a topless blonde woman and a mustached hero battling a crocodile.

On the wall and in the bedroom were photos of Saddam Hussein and one of his mistresses. Military officials suspect they found one of the paranoid Iraqi leader's many safe houses.

``This must have been Saddam's love shack,'' said Sgt. Spencer Willardson of Logan, Utah.

The split-level, one-bedroom town house is in a Baath Party enclave in an upscale neighborhood in central Baghdad where generals and senior party officials lived.

As U.S. officials set up command posts there, troops were going home by home, searching for looters and weapons.

Next door, where iron sheets were welded over all the windows, they found more than 6,000 Berretta pistols, 650 Sig Sauer pistols, 248 Colt Revolvers, 160 Belgian 7.65 mm pistols, 12 cases of Sterling submachine guns and four cases of anti-tank missiles all still in the unopened original boxes. There were also tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition mortars and cases of old handguns and heavy machine guns.

Not far off was another presidential palace, this one with a Yugoslav-built, chemical and biological weapons-proof bunker underneath it. A U.S. Army team inspected it and it appeared to be strictly defensive in nature.

But this home was different: beanbag chairs, a garden of plastic plants, a sunken kitchen and a room for a servant, all 1960s-style.

The sunken wet bar was stocked with 20-year old Italian red wines and expensive cognacs, brandies and Scotch whiskeys, the same brands found in several presidential palaces.

The glassware, too, was the same pattern that was found in at least three palaces also visited by U.S. troops since the regime collapsed. The pattern features the Iraqi government seal and a gold pattern on that rim.

But when it came time to eat dinner, Saddam was served his food on the official fine china of the Kuwaiti royal family, complete with the family seal and gold and maroon trim.

Capt. Chris Carter, commander of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, said the home appears to be one of Saddam's safe houses. The photos in the living room, bedroom and on the wall are of Saddam and Parisoula Lampsos, who publicly claimed to be his mistress. She escaped to Lebanon in 2002.

Lampsos was interviewed extensively about her relationship with Saddam on U.S. television. Her current location is unknown and she was last believed to be in hiding.

The photos show Saddam and Lampsos smiling at each other and standing beside one another - in one Saddam wears a uniform and in another a suit.

On one wall was a 16-by-20 inch plaque of the Iraqi eagle and flag seal.

Upstairs was a television room with bright blue, pink and yellow throw pillows. The bathroom included a whirlpool bath. The kingsize bed was fitted into an alcove with mirrors on two sides and a fantasy painting on the third.

The closets and drawers were empty except for a man's night shirt, two pairs of boxer shorts, two T-shirts and a bath robe - each item individually wrapped in plastic, just as similar items had been in the palaces.

One of the air-brushed paintings depicted a topless blonde woman, with a green demon behind her, pointing a finger at a mythic hero. From the tip of her finger came a giant serpent, which had wrapped itself around the warrior.

Another showed a buxom woman chained to a barren desert mountain ledge, with a huge dragon diving down to kill her with sharpened talons.

The home's 1960s look - parodied in the series of ``Austin Powers'' spy spoofs - inspired a round of imitations from soldiers slogging door to door.

``Yeah, baaabeee,'' said Carter, doing his best imitation of actor Mike Meyers' character.

``Shagadelic,'' another soldier shouted.

Indeed, the carpet was navy blue shag.

04/12/03 14:46 EDT


TOPICS: News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: arms; decapitation; fallofbaghdad; hideaway; palace; saddam; warlist
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1 posted on 04/12/2003 11:55:33 AM PDT by kattracks
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To: kattracks
The doors of the town house opened to reveal a playboy's fantasy straight from the 1960s: mirrored bedroom, lamps shaped like women, air-brushed paintings of a topless blonde woman

Saddam's tunnels lead to Chappaqua?

2 posted on 04/12/2003 11:58:24 AM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: All
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3 posted on 04/12/2003 11:58:49 AM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: kattracks
From one side of the spectrum to the other..... I just heard on MSNBC (Bob Arnot) that we found some paramilitary uniforms in a school and women and children were crying out back hysterically. They were told by the Fedyheen that we are evil and will kill them.
4 posted on 04/12/2003 12:02:49 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather
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To: kattracks
Eeeeewwwww
5 posted on 04/12/2003 12:03:18 PM PDT by mombonn
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To: kattracks
"``This must have been Saddam's love shack,''

Gross me out the door! Ewwwwwwwww!

6 posted on 04/12/2003 12:03:20 PM PDT by BlueHorseShoe
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To: kattracks
Man, I sure hope that some embedded reporter gets film of this place before the looters hit on it. I'd pay money for a DVD of it.

I'd like to know who Saddam's interior decorator was. He/She should be shot on sight for the cold blooded murder of good taste.


7 posted on 04/12/2003 12:04:47 PM PDT by demnomo
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To: mombonn
Oh, c'mon, don't you want to see just a shot or two of this travesty? ;)
8 posted on 04/12/2003 12:05:53 PM PDT by demnomo
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To: demnomo
Check out the DVD of "Uncle Saddam"...

Great documentary, and lots of interesting stuff on it!

9 posted on 04/12/2003 12:07:50 PM PDT by Hazzardgate
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To: kattracks
The sunken wet bar was stocked with 20-year old Italian red wines and expensive cognacs, brandies and Scotch whiskeys, the same brands found in several presidential palaces.

So I guess old Saddam wasn't too strict a Muslim. Those rules are for the common folk. His was a high and lonely destiny.
10 posted on 04/12/2003 12:09:35 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: Paul Atreides
Get the DNA detectives in there....mach schnell!!
11 posted on 04/12/2003 12:09:38 PM PDT by ErnBatavia (Bumperootus!)
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To: ErnBatavia
ROFLOL! Oh be-have!
12 posted on 04/12/2003 12:11:34 PM PDT by soccermom
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To: kattracks
You mean brutality, torture and bad taste?
13 posted on 04/12/2003 12:12:25 PM PDT by Urbane_Guerilla
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To: aruanan
So I guess old Saddam wasn't too strict a Muslim.

IIRC, he never was a Muslim.

14 posted on 04/12/2003 12:13:52 PM PDT by muggs
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To: demnomo
LOL - I LIVED through the 60's - I can see enough in my rear view mirror!
15 posted on 04/12/2003 12:15:13 PM PDT by mombonn
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To: kattracks

Sound clip: Austin Powers repudiates Saddam Insane's decorating style. :)

16 posted on 04/12/2003 12:16:50 PM PDT by anymouse
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To: kattracks; aculeus; general_re; BlueLancer; Poohbah; Chancellor Palpatine; hchutch; ...
>

AP photos/John Moore

17 posted on 04/12/2003 12:16:59 PM PDT by dighton (Amen-Corner Hatchet Team, Nasty Little Clique)
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To: mombonn
Me, too...though I was very young at the time.
18 posted on 04/12/2003 12:17:50 PM PDT by demnomo
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To: muggs
IIRC, he never was a Muslim.

But, but, he gave his blood in order to make copies of the Koran!
19 posted on 04/12/2003 12:18:43 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: dighton
Gracious, those pictures look like a bad (and I mean bad) imitation of Frank Frazzetta art. I'll bet that there's even a copy of "Conan the Barbarian" in the video cabinet...
20 posted on 04/12/2003 12:21:01 PM PDT by demnomo
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